Researchers' findings have been published in the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, and co-author David Pritchard, MIT's Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, knows they will be controversial. The group, comprised of researchers from MIT, Harvard and Tsinghua University, completed a before-and-after test on students taking "Mechanics ReView," an introductory mechanics course offered on massive open online learning platform edX. Researchers then conducted a similar test on students taking the class residentially, discovering: The amount learned is somewhat greater than in the traditional lecture-based course.
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/09/24/mit-study-how-do-online-courses-compare-to-traditional-learning/
link to IRRODL article:
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1902/3009
